University Student Interns with Dr. Dominick Maino

University Student Interns with Dr. Dominick M. Maino at ICO/IEI and Lyons Family Eye Care

As a sixth grader, Erin McClellan wanted to read Harry Potter, but she couldn't. "The font was too small," she says, "and I couldn't deal with the new names and big words."

McClellan is interning with Dr. Maino this summer, shadowing him both at ICO and at Lyons Family Eye Care in Lakeview, owned by Stephanie Lyons, OD '09, where Dr. Maino is working to expand the vision therapy program.

Optometric vision therapy is a cause that's close to McClellan's heart. She struggled with reading as a child, starting sixth grade with a second grade reading level. "They couldn't figure out what the problem was," McClellan says. "Someone told my mom about vision therapy. My eyes didn't work together, and I had problems with tracking and reading."

By the time McClellan completed vision therapy in sixth grade, she'd not only read Harry Potter but had an eighth grade reading level. "Vision therapy changed my life," she says.

McClellan will graduate in December from Illinois Wesleyan University with a major in Interdisciplinary Educational Studies and a concentration in Child and Family Studies. She's interested in the relationship between vision and learning, and she's hoping her internship will help her figure out whether to become a certified vision therapist or an optometrist.

"It's looking like optometry school is the plan," she says. 

Lyons Family Eye Care provides primary and specialized eye and vision care in a high tech, high touch atmosphere.

Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A is a Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision at the Illinois Eye Institute/Illinois College of Optometry, attending at Lyons Family Eye Care, and editor of Optometry & Vision Development the official journal of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. He also writes for several publications including the AOANew (the official news paper of the American Optometric Association (see below) and has published his third book, Visual Diagnosis and Care of the Patient with Special Needs (Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins)

In Other News

Drs. Maino and Goodfellow wrote an article for the June issue of AOANews, "Chicago Practice Puts the Eye in iPad," featuring Stephanie Lyons, OD '09. Read the article here.  This story was a part of the ICOInsider email newsletter